The icy rain pelted my body as I leaned against the cold brick wall. In one hand I held a bouquet of roses,
in the other, my cigarettes and lighter. I put a cigarette in my mouth and light it. The next thing I know, the
cigarette has burned down to the butt. I let it drop out of my mouth and crush it with my foot. Then I move
onward into the city. I then come upon several armed men. I throw the roses at them and produce a machine gun
and begin firing at them. There is no sound as they return fire, their bullets soaring through the air and tearing
through the flesh of my arms and sides. I don't feel any pain from the bullets as I gun them down one by one. I
smiled as the last one fell to the ground. I put another cigarette in my mouth and light it. I smile as I begin to fade
out.

I sit up and find myself back in reality. I was taking a short nap on the couch.

"You okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine. Now go find something to play with why don't you?" I said.

She ran off to do gawd-knows-what. Raichu was busying himself with his little palm screen. He noticed that I was
awake, focused his attention on me, and gave me a friendly smile. I wiped my forehead with my hand. That
dream comes every so often. Just old memories and nothing more. I don't want to go into it. The past isn't very
interesting to me, especially my past.

The sky is blue, the air is warm, and the traffic is awful. A perfect day for business. At least that's what
the old man behind the counter in the odds 'n ends shop was thinking as he cleaned his sunglasses. His day
seemed to get even better when the beauty walked into his store. You know that kind of woman. 5'11", great legs,
great body, purple hair, and skimpy clothes that left very little to the imagination. A pair of sunglasses covered her
blue eyes. The old man didn't know it, but she had two guns, one was in the bag of stuff she carried and the other
was hidden in a most peculiar place. She approached the counter and placed the bag on the table and leaned over
the counter, bending at the hip.

"You here to do business?" The old man asked with a stupid grin on his face.

She loved that kind of grin. It was the kind of grin that meant she could get anything she wanted, and all she had
to do was shift her body one way, or just cross her legs the other way. She tipped her sunglasses down onto the tip
of her nose.

"Depends on what kind of business you want." She said.

"Oh I definitely want to get into your business." The old man cackled.

Reflected in the old man's glasses, she could see that she had been followed. Three men were standing outside the
shop's door. She slipped her sunglasses back up on her face and reached into the bag.

"You know what the first rule of combat is?" She asked.

"Huh?" The old man muttered, now confused.

She pulled a fully automatic machine gun out of the bag and turned to the door.

"Shoot them before they shoot you!" She shouted as she opened fire on the three figures.

The three figures scattered and she ran to the door. The old man stared, stupefied, at the remains of his store.
Once outside the store, she glanced left and right, trying to spot her stalkers. Suddenly a hand shot out and
grabbed her gun, the other put a gun to her head.

"Hey guys, heh heh, come on, can't you take a joke?" She asked in an all-innocent tone of voice.

One of the men started digging around in her shorts.

"Hey, just what do you think you're doing!?" She shouted.

The man pulled a pistol out of her shorts.

"Very funny." The man said.

"Heh heh, how did that get in there?" She asked, feigning innocence.

"Our boss would like a word with you." Another man said.

"Mai Tenshi." The man behind the desk said. "One of the most notorious mercs this side of the galaxy."

Mai stood beside his desk, staring out the window into space.

"And you are?" She asked.

"The name is Pencoske. Dan Pencoske." He said.

She looked him over. Brown hair, brown eyes that hid behind brown framed glasses and a goatee in progress. Not
too tall, and neither skinny nor fat. An average man, but an above average bounty.

"I know you. You're an interplanetary bank robber." She said.

"I see my reputation precedes me." He said.

"Well yeah. Who doesn't know you? Anyway, can we be getting to the point any time soon?"

"The point is this. You are in a lot of trouble. I can get you out of that trouble."

"You don't know what trouble is, buddy."

"You have amassed quite a debt, my dear. I can make all your financial troubles go away."

"And what do I have to do in return?"

"Work with me."

"Work with you?"

"That's right."

"And if I refuse?"

He pulled out a gun and pointed it at her.

"Well, you know too much. You see it's nothing for me to kill you." He said.

"Um... I guess I have no choice. What do I have to do?"

"I'm planning a heist on Ganymede. You are gonna help me out with it."

"Why should I?"

"Because they know you. If you pull the job, then the blame will be on you and not on me. Don't worry, they
won't catch you, and if they do, I'll make sure that you make it safely back here. Do we have a deal?"

"Aww come on Marcus, do I have to?" I asked.

"Yes you have to. I need you to deposit these credits at the bank so that we have money to buy food and supplies."
Marcus said.

"What's wrong with having hard currency on you all the time?"

"You can get robbed at any time, that's what's wrong with it."

"Fine, come on Raichu."

Raichu hopped to his feet and followed me out the airlock. We walked along the busy streets in one of the towns
on Ganymede. Ganymede is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live here. The entire place is like one
large wharf. The place stinks of fish. I hate fish. We turned a corner and bumped into a cute looking woman.

"Oops, sorry. Didn't see you." I said.

"Jeez! Watch where you're going, you jerk!" She said, annoyed.

"Hey, I said I was sorry."

She had a unique look to her. Purple hair and a great body. Not the most beautiful woman in the world mind you,
I've seen better, but man, I wouldn't mind getting to know her, if it weren't for her attitude. Not only that, but
she's got a gun in her pants, either that or she's really happy to see me. Either a merc or something more. But
either way it doesn't matter. I'm not in the mood for another partner nor do I have time to make friends.

"Sorry. Gotta run. Later." I said as Raichu and I walked past her towards the bank.

Once inside the bank, I stood in line to make my deposit. Immediately I became bored. Even Raichu was bored.
He already had his palm screen out and was playing a game on it. I pulled out a cigarette, lit it, and took a drag. I
was about halfway through the cigarette when I became next in line.

"Uh sir, you'll have to put that out. This is a no smoking area." The lady behind the counter said.

"Huh? Oh this." I said.

I swallowed the cigarette.

"That's disgusting sir." She said.

"But effective. Here, I want to deposit these in the account of Marcus Chang." I said, handing her the credits.

As she was making the deposit, the silence was disrupted by the sound of the doors being kicked open and guns
firing. The woman behind the counter, just like everyone else, hit the floor.

"Alright everyone down and don't move!" A woman's voice shot out.

I recognized that voice. I turned around to see the lovely woman I had seen before in the street, holding a machine
gun. She looked over at me.

"Hey, you're that jerk from before!" She said.

"Yeah. I never caught your name." I said as I calmly and slowly approached her.

"I never intended to throw it."

"You're quite the comedian."

"And you're still a jerk."

"To each his own."

One of the men who had come in with her ran out of the bank's vault with some bags of credits.

"I got the loot! Let's get out of here!" He shouted as he ran for the door.

She produced a small bomb.

"Nice knowing you." She said as she threw the bomb to the floor.

The room was filled with smoke. But before she could make a move, I had already knocked the gun out of her
hands and was already slapping some handcuffs on her.

"Hey! What are you doing?" She demanded.

"I'm capturing you. I should get a nice reward for turning in a bank robber." I said as I lifted her over my
shoulder.

Once out the door I coughed up the cigarette I had swallowed, only now it was nothing but a butt.

"Oh that is so gross!" She squealed.

The airlock opened and Raichu hopped through. I followed Raichu through the airlock and headed
towards the den area. The girl was still over my shoulder.

"Let me go! This is no way to treat a lady!" She shouted.

Marcus came in the room to see what the commotion was about.

"Look at what I got Marcus." I said.

"Ryudo, you know we don't have the money for that." He replied.

"What is that supposed to mean!?" She demanded.

I set her down on the couch.

"You heard about that bank heist today?" I asked.

"Yeah. So?" Marcus replied.

I pointed at the girl.

"You mean she masterminded it?" He asked.

"Exactly." I answered.

The next thing she knew, she was locked down in our bathroom.

"I can't believe you locked me into a bathroom!" She screeched.

"Ooooh pretty pretty lady. Who is she?" Mike asked.

"That's for you to find out kiddo." Marcus replied.

Mike squealed with glee and ran off to do her thing.

"You guys have no idea what you're getting yourselves into." She said in a threatening tone.

"Oh don't worry about that. We'll find out everything once we find out who you are." Marcus said.

I closed the bathroom door and we walked away. She then started fiddling with the bracelet on her left wrist. A
small panel popped open, revealing a communicator. Working quickly, she managed to key in the frequency for
Dan's ship. A holographic image of Dan appeared above the bracelet.

"Dan! You've gotta get me outta here! I'm on a freighter ship called 'Crossover'. Come and get me out of here!"
She pleaded.

"Sorry toots. I got my money, all thirty million credits worth, you got captured, you've got the blame, and no one's
the wiser. You're on your own kid." Dan said.

"You dirty son of a..." She replied, but Dan had already cut the communication.

The screen displayed the woman's face as well as her personal information. Name, age, height, and other
useless information. But besides her name, there was another piece of information that grabbed my attention.

"Mai Tenshi. Bounty, six million credits. Sweet." I said.

"Money money money money!" Mike said happily.

"Well, looks like we've got ourselves some money in the bank, so to speak." Marcus replied.

We headed over to the bathroom and opened the door. She looked up at us.

"You can't keep me in here you know!" She shouted.

"Oh don't worry, Mai Tenshi, we've got a better place in mind for you." I said.

"What! Where?" She demanded.

"The police station." Me and Marcus said at the same time.

"What!? You're gonna turn me in?" She asked, on the verge of hysteria.

"You've got a sweet bounty." I said.

"How much?" She asked.

"Six million." Marcus replied.

"Six million? Is that all?" She asked.

"What do you mean 'is that all'?" I asked, surprised.

"Six million is chump change compared to what I owe!" She shouted. "Besides, you really should give me a
chance to clear my name!"

"Why should we do that?" Marcus asked.

"Because I'm not the one who planned that heist! I was working for someone!" She pleaded.

Marcus and I exchanged a glance. This could get interesting. Marcus was on the same track.

"Who were you working for?" I asked.

"Dan Pencoske. I didn't have a choice! He kidnaped me, and told me to work for him or he'd kill me!" She
pleaded.

"And why should we believe you? Why would you turn traitor on this guy?" Marcus asked.

"Because he promised to rescue me if I got caught. You guys caught me and he isn't here! He's the one who
turned traitor on me! If you can get him, you'll get a much bigger reward than mine! His ship is called 'Clyde'."
She shouted.

"We'll look into it." Marcus said.

"Hey! Could you at least undo one cuff? I can't even use the bathroom like this!" She shouted.

Reluctantly, I undid one cuff.

"Oooh, this is a bad man. Bad bad bad man." Mike said.

"You got that right." I said.

Marcus and I were looking over Mike's shoulders as she pulled up the information on
Pencoske.

"The bounty is a whopping twenty million credits. They must really be out for this guy." Marcus said.

"He's hit ten banks in the last two years." I said.

"Well then, Mike, find his ship. We're going after him." Marcus said.

It wasn't long before Mike located the Clyde. Marcus set a course and soon we were within eye shot of his ship.

"Damn those guys. Damn that idiot Dan! I can't wait to get my hands on him!" Mai grumbled as she worked a
lock pick to remove the other hand cuff.

With a few more turns, the lock clicked and the cuff came loose. She removed the cuff from her wrist and rubbed
it. Then she left the bathroom and made her way to the ship hanger. On the way there she spotted the ship's
refrigerator. She thought about it for a moment and then cleaned it out. Once in the hanger, she found her ship.
A neat little military grade Zip Craft. The thing looks like a bubble with guns. But aside from it's odd shape, it is
an excellent little ship with quite a payload of weaponry. She had taken it as payment for a job she had done on
Mars. She did a quick inspection of the ship and found that it had not been disarmed, but it needed fuel. She
looked over and saw a ship armed with a claw arm and harpoon. She then hooked up her fuel tank with that ship's
tank and began transferring the fuel into her tank.

It wasn't long before Marcus caught up with Dan's ship. Marcus was already chatting with Dan about
our little prisoner and how she was willing to testify against him.

"Alright, Mai was working for me. But I'm sure that we can come to some sort of arrangement. You keep her,
turn her in keep the reward money and I'll give you the money we got from the heist. All you have to do is not say
anything about my involvement in this little escapade." Dan said.

"How much was stolen?" I asked.

"Thirty million credits." Marcus replied.

"From six to thirty, our little nest egg is growing. I say we take it. I don't like that girl anyway." I said.

"So do we have a deal?" Dan asked.

"Alright, but you have to give us the money in person." I said.

Our ships were hovering close to each other. Close enough for a space walk. I stepped out onto the hull
of the ship in my space suit.

"Be careful Ryudo. There's no telling what he'll do." Marcus said.

"Don't worry about me Marcus." I said as I released the magnets that held me to the hull.

I jumped upward towards Dan's ship, and as I got close to the hull I flipped over and re-activated the magnets. I
made a smooth landing on Dan's ship. An elevator rose up out of the hull of Dan's ship a ways away from me.
Dan was there, holding a case. He put the case down on the hull and pressed a button on it. Two panels opened up
to show the contents of the case. It was full of credits. I smiled. He lifted the case and pushed it towards me. The
case was about halfway to me when there was a loud crash. Mai's Zip Craft had blown a hole in the hangar doors
and shot out of our ship. Then it oriented on Dan's ship.

"This is for stabbing me in the back damn it!" She shouted as she started firing her vulcan cannons.

Bullets rained down onto the ship. I had no choice but to release my magnets and jump away from Dan's ship.
Mai's bullets tore through Dan's space suit and ripped into his flesh, the first one going through the middle of his
forehead. The bullets that didn't hit Dan had tore into the hull of his ship and into the bridge. Suddenly Dan's
ship started to explode. Mai quickly had her ship use a claw to grab the case of money.

"Thanks for getting Dan to confess. I'm sure the authorities will gladly clear my name when they hear this." She
said as she held a small audio cassette so that I could see it. "See ya."

And then she flew off. I was still floating in space, Dan's ship was still exploding, and Marcus was cursing like a
sailor. I tell you man, women like that are nothing but trouble.